Tag Archives: Ezekiel Emanuel

Hey, kids,it seems that these days, everyone is getting a book deal. I thought we’d take a look back at some books of the recent past. There’s been a lot of talk lately about WikiLeaks, but where was all the Rethuglican hanky-wringing when Scooter Libby outed Valerie Plame, a covert CIA agent? They want to string up Julian Assange, but they seemed to be just fine when Chimpy commuted Scooterpie’s sentence, because Scootie has “suffered enough“…Original book coverContinue reading →

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was invited to testify before the New York state Senate Aging Committee by its Chairman, Rev. Ruben Diaz. Instead of testifying, Palin has submitted written testimony, and publicizes it via her latest Facebook “Note.”

In it, she defends her contention that there are, in fact, “death panels” in health-care legislation being considered in Congress — despite independent fact-checkers repeatedly debunking the notion.

I’ve said this before: It’s getting past time for President Obama to spell out specifics about which healthcare reform plan he supports, given the five House and Senate bills and umpteen other proposals circling Washington. And unfortunately for Obama’s dreams of bipartisanism, it’s way past time for him to give up his hopes that he can bring “sensible” Republicans on board with a smart, fair bill.

I’ve suspected that was true for a while, but today is the day to, well, pull the plug on that project. Unbelievably, one GOP senator who’s been held up as a paragon of reason and bipartisan comity, Iowa’s Chuck Grassley — one of three Republicans negotiating with three Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee — trashed Obama’s plan today in terms that went beyond Sarah Palin’s ignorant rant.

…snip…

“There is some fear because in the House bill, there is counseling for end-of-life,” Grassley told a town hall crowd. “And from that standpoint, you have every right to fear. You shouldn’t have counseling at the end of life. You ought to have counseling 20 years before you’re going to die. You ought to plan these things out. And I don’t have any problem with things like living wills. But they ought to be done within the family. We should not have a government program that determines if you’re going to pull the plug on grandma.”

I’ve been writing about “town hells” and anti-health care reform hysterics, as well as the crazy Birthers, for a few weeks. Every few days, I think: Maybe we’re giving these fringe folks the oxygen they need; maybe we should ignore them. But it all got even loonier today, and it can’t be ignored.

Alex Koppelman wrote about it immediately: Sarah Palin (or her handlers) posted a message on Facebook decrying the “death panels” she says – wrongly, bizarrely, viciously — Obama’s health care reform will establish. She also claimed such panels might well have ended the life of her son Trig, born with Down’s Syndrome.